Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Book Review: Praying Constantly

Father Benedict Groeschel, CFR, always a model of Franciscan simplicity, is true to his reputation with his new book, Praying Constantly: Bring Your Faith to Life.


There's no fluff in here, and no New-Age instruction to try "visualization" or "guided imagery" or Reiki massage any of that sort.  Instead, Father Groeschel focuses on the basics:  the Mass, Eucharistic adoration, the Rosary, and Scripture reading.

Father reminds the reader again and again, and dedicates the complete final chapter of the book to this: you have to make the time to meet God in prayer. Referencing the "faith without works" concept in the letter of James, he states that
"the person who spends his life in prayer but cares nothing for his neighbors has made a horrible mistake. Our prayer lives should give us the desire and the strength to love others, to help others."

Father Groeschel challenges the reader to keep the Sabbath, bluntly declaring that "the universe won't implode if you take a few hours off." Anyone who feels "too busy" all the time definitely needs to hear this. The reader is asked to consider the Sabbath a gift, rather than a burden.

Praying Constantly is an excellent guide to living a life of prayer even as we live our lives as parents, professionals, spouses and generally busy people. Everyone is called to "pray without ceasing." In this little book, Father Groeschel shows us how it can be done.

You can purchase this book here

I wrote this review of Praying Constantly for theCatholic Company Blogger Review program, created by The Catholic Company. For more information and to purchase, please visit The Catholic Company.


A review copy of the book was provided to me. I did not receive other compensation for this review.

2 comments:

Suzanne said...

Barb, Good review. I love him. I've always felt the same way about the "faith without works" situation. When I pray, something nudges me almost everytime..in fact, maybe too much. Not that I always make sure I follow up, but that little voice is there..it doesn't come from the human me..it comes from above and when we completely ignore that, we are hiding..that's all I can say. Thanks for the review. Good to come by for a visit here! :) Suz

A Secular Franciscan said...

I was thinking of wandering over to my local Catholic shop today. You've sparked my interest: I'll be looking for this book.

Of course, in keeping with my vow of last year, that means getting rid of two books!